1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording/reproducing apparatus for an optical card, which records information on an optical card or reproduces information therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical cards have a memory capacity several thousands to ten thousands times that of magnetic cards. While optical cards like optical disks are not rewritable, they have a wider range of applications, such as for use in bankbooks, portable maps and prepaid cards for shopping, due to their large memory capacity of 1 to 2 MB.
An example of an information recording/reproducing apparatus for such an optical card will be described below referring to FIG. 1. In a front panel 9 of the housing of the apparatus is formed a card slot 10 for an optical card 2. This card slot 10 extends inside the apparatus to guide the loading of the optical card 2, with an inclined surface formed at the rear end portion of the card slot 10. The front panel 9 is designed to take two states: the open state (indicated by the solid lines) to the housing, pivotable around the lower end, and the closed state (indicated by the one-dot chain lines).
A shutter 11 is provided at the back of the inclined surface of the card slot 10, and is supported movably up and down by means of a guide pin (not shown). A compression spring 14 is disposed between the shutter 11 and a bottom plate 17 to movably urge the shutter 11 upward. The shutter 11 has an inclined surface formed at its top surface, so that when the shutter 11 is urged upward by the spring 14, this inclined surface closely contacts the inclined surface of the card slot 10, shielding the card loading passage. The shutter 11 is engaged with a solenoid (not shown), and opens the passage for the optical card 2 as it moves downward against the resilient force of the spring 14 due to attraction by the solenoid.
At the back of the shutter 11 are located a cleaning device 12 and an opposing roller 13 facing the cleaning section of the cleaning device 12, so that the optical card 2 can pass therebetween.
The cleaning device 12 is designed to be detachable from the apparatus assembly to permit a user to replace the cleaning member of the cleaning device 12 or the cleaning device 12 itself if used up.
At the back of the cleaning device 12 are disposed rollers 15 and 16 for feeding a card. The roller 15, a drive roller, is located below the passage for the optical card 2, and is coupled to a drive source (not shown) so that it can selectively rotate either in a direction to take the optical card 2 into the apparatus or in a direction to discharge the card out of the apparatus. The other roller 16, a driven roller, is pivotably mounted on an arm which is supported rotatably upward and downward by a link mechanism (not shown). The roller 16 is moved to the lower position indicated by the broken line by drive means (not shown) to firmly abut against the drive roller 15 via the optical card 2, and is freely rotatable together with the roller 15 as the optical card 2 moves.
A detector 21 is attached to the apparatus assembly above the driven roller 16 to detect if the cleaning device 12 is mounted on the apparatus assembly and to output a detection signal. At the back of the rollers 15 and 16 is disposed a shuttle 1 that holds the inserted optical card 2, with guide shafts (not shown) provided on both sides of the shuttle 1 parallel to the loading direction of the optical card 2. The shuttle 1 is supported on the guide shafts by means of bearings to be reciprocal along the guide shafts. The shuttle 1 is driven by a voice coil motor (VCM) disposed therebelow. At the end of the reciprocal region of the shuttle 1 on the front side of the apparatus assembly is provided with a lock mechanism (not shown) which locks the shuttle 1 at the position indicated by the one-dot chain lines.
The lock mechanism can take two states: one to lock the shuttle 1 and a second not to lock the shuttle 1. An optical head 4 is provided where it faces the information recording surface of the optical card 2 held by the shuttle 1. The optical head 4 is movably supported on two guide shafts 5 and 6, extending perpendicular to the reciprocal direction of the shuttle 1, to be freely reciprocal along the guide shafts. Voice coil motors (VCMs) 7 and 8 are disposed outside the guide shafts 5 and 6, respectively, to provide driving power to the optical head 4.
According to the thus constituted recording/reproducing apparatus, the cleaning member of the cleaning device 12 to clean the optical card 2 should properly be replaced in accordance with the length of its usage.
To replace the cleaning member of the cleaning device 12, as indicated by the broken lines, after the front panel 9 is opened to open the front side of the housing, the cleaning device 12 is removed from inside the housing, the cleaning member installed on the cleaning device 12 is replaced with a new one, and the cleaning device 12 is installed again at a predetermined position in the housing.
The front panel 9 is then restored to its closed state as indicated by the solid lines to close the front side of the apparatus, which completes the replacement of the cleaning member of the cleaning device 12, permitting continuous and inherent use of the apparatus.
According to the conventional information recording/reproducing apparatus, when the user opens the front panel 9 and pulls out the cleaning device 12 for its replacement, the VCM 3 is deactivated by the output signal of the detector 21, stopping the shuttle 1 wherever it then is. The passage to the optical head 4 emits a laser beam from the front of the housing or the passage to the objective lens and is just the moving passage for the optical card 2 or the movable region of the shuttle 1. With the cleaning device 12 removed, however, part of the moving passage of the optical card 2 is greatly open so that the user can easily insert some device or tool inside the apparatus.
Further, when the shuttle 1 is stopped at the rear portion of the apparatus assembly, this passage is large so that when the user inserts some device or tool, the apparatus may be damaged. Since there is only one lock position for the shuttle 1, i.e., at the front of the apparatus, the shuttle 1 is not mostly positioned at a certain location except when it is locked. When the device or tool inserted by a user hits the shuttle 1, the shuttle 1 is pushed further back in the apparatus assembly. This provides a large space around the optical head 4, making it very likely to cause damage on the optical head 4 by the inserted device or tool, or hurt the user by the laser beam.
In short, the conventional information recording/reproducing apparatus with the above-described structure has the following shortcomings:
(1) With the cleaning device 12 removed, when the user inserts a long driver or the like through the open space in the apparatus, it may damage the lens or the like of the optical system located inside the apparatus; and PA1 (2) When something like a dental mirror is inserted, the laser beam emitted through the objective lens may enter the user's eye, thus hurting it seriously.